A sweet series of interconnected stories that ultimately fails to dazzle.
A series of quests in Tokyo turn out to be related.
It’s after midnight in Tokyo, and something is missing. Mitsuki Sawatari is at the prop warehouse, searching for an obscure artifact to meet a movie director’s exacting specifications. Mitsuki is tasked with tracking down whatever an artist requires, whether it’s out-of-season fruit or potentially nonexistent household appliances, no matter the hour. When the resourceful procurer is out of ideas, she turns to Matsui, a late-night cab driver and her confidante. Amiable and professional, Matsui is loath to divulge the details of his own quest to his customers. Still, when a young man who may or may not be a detective hops into his cab one night, his curiosity is piqued and he’s tempted to ask him for help. He discusses the matter with another customer, Kanako Fuyuki. Kanako’s job at the Tokyo No. 3 Consultation Room has taught her to answer all manner of questions. Though she can counsel a broken heart or find watercolors before daybreak, she too has a person from her past who cannot be found. The cast seems to grow exponentially with each chapter. Every interaction, however cursory, unlocks new pathways, catalyzes relationships, and nudges at fate. To Matsui, those connections happen, not despite the size of Tokyo, but because of it: “When you consider that every person has their own connections, that those networks spread out in a myriad of intricate ways, you realize that the greater the number of people, the greater the rate of the spread, like a contagious disease.” There’s something magical about these late-night fairy-tale interactions, every person unwittingly walking the city with the key to a stranger’s mystery in their pocket. As the coincidences grow in number, though, their impact turns feeble, and the final twists of fate underlying the premise have an air of resignation.
A sweet series of interconnected stories that ultimately fails to dazzle.Pub Date: July 9, 2024
ISBN: 9798889660279
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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